【英语国际】日本任命商界人士丹宇羽一郎为新任驻华大使

The new Japanese government named two executives to be ambassadors to China and Greece, breaking with the tradition of filling prime diplomatic positions with career foreign-service officials.

Signaling a desire to tap Asia's growth to spur Japan's moribund economy, Prime Minister Naoto Kan's cabinet Tuesday named Uichiro Niwa, former chairman and chief executive of Itochu Corp., a giant trading house, as ambassador to Beijing. The 71-year-old Mr. Niwa is the first noncareer diplomat since World War II to head Tokyo's embassy in China, Japan's largest trading partner.

Hiroshi Toda, a former top executive of Nomura Securities Co., was named ambassador to Greece, the nation Mr. Kan has cited often since he started scrutinizing Japan's runaway national debts as finance minister last year. Mr. Toda, a 58-year-old banker with expertise in capital markets and years of experience in Europe, was deputy president and chief operating officer of Nomura before becoming a senior adviser to the company last year.

The appointment of the two executives is the latest move by the Democratic Party of Japan, which took control of government in September, to rein in Japan's bureaucrats.

Mr. Niwa has served on panels both under the current government and its predecessor, led by the Liberal Democratic Party. He made his career at Itochu in food and other consumer products -- sectors the company has emphasized in recent years as it expanded in China.

An Itochu spokesman said neither Mr. Niwa nor the company has disclosed a preference for a particular political party. A Nomura spokeswoman declined to disclose Mr. Toda's political affiliation. Nomura, like many large Japanese corporations, had long made most of its political donations to the Liberal Democratic Party, the former ruling party. No disclosure document is available to show whether Nomura changed its donation practices after the DPJ took power last year.

日本新政府任命两名企业高管担任驻中国和希腊大使，打破了安排职业外交官担任大使的惯例。

Itochu丹宇羽一郎首相菅直人(Naoto Kan)领导的日本内阁周二任命丹宇羽一郎(Uichiro Niwa)担任驻华大使。丹宇羽一郎原来是大型贸易公司伊藤忠商事株式会社的董事长兼首席执行长，任命他担任驻华大使显示了日本新政府利用亚洲的增长刺激日本疲弱经济的愿望。71岁的丹宇羽一郎是日本在二战以来担任驻华大使的第一位非职业外交官。中国是日本最大的贸易伙伴国。

野村证券(Nomura Securities Co.)前高管户田博史(Hiroshi Toda)被任命为驻希腊大使。菅直人自去年在财务大臣任上开始质疑日本过高的国债水平以来，常常提到希腊。58岁的银行家户田博史拥有在资本市场的专业经验，有多年在欧洲工作的履历。去年他担任野村证券高级顾问以前，曾是该公司的副总裁兼首席运营长。

任命这两位企业高管，是去年9月上台的日本民主党为遏制日本官僚作风而迈出的最新一步。

丹宇羽一郎曾在本届政府和自民党领导的上届政府担任专业委员会成员。他在伊藤忠商事经营食品和其他消费品期间成就了自己的事业；该公司近几年在中国扩张的过程中，就曾着力于这些行业。

伊藤忠商事的一位发言人说，丹宇羽一郎和公司都未曾透露对某个具体政党的偏好。野村公司的一位发言人拒绝透露户田博史的政党偏好。和很多日本大公司一样，野村长期以来的多数政治捐款都捐给了前执政党自民党。尚未有信息披露文件表明，民主党去年执掌政权后，野村有没有改变其政治捐款方式。